Actually Good Photography Videos You May Have Missed

The Royal Navy’s Photographers

Interesting 15 minute documentary this – interesting to note the gear they’re using – Canon and Nikon by the looks of it – some incredible photographs in there too.

How Instagram is Influencing Street Photography

Can’t say I agree with everything Jeff Ascough says in this video, but I am definitely not in the pro-Instagram demographic, which probably explains that. In fact I deleted my Instagram account, which had a decent following, because I thought it was time to ‘put up or shut up’. I didn’t think it was reasonable to continue complaining about how awful Instagram is and how detrimental it has become for photography, when I was still using the platform. But this is an interesting watch and it’s always good to see things from a different perspective – to challenge your own views.

Just Go Out and Photograph Anything

I must admit to being increasingly jealous of the macro photographers on YouTube. I don’t own a macro lens and every time I see the results in videos like Jamie’s I start browsing the online camera stores checking prices. Some fine examples of what you can achieve with what look like quite ordinary subjects, once you see all that tiny detail.

This Japanese Philosophy Will Transform Your Photography Forever

I mean, yes, it’s a fairly dramatic title for a video. However it turns out that the concepts Joshua talks about in this video resonated with me, because it’s basically the way I’ve photographed for the last 15 years or so. In many of my videos and articles I’ve talked about how I like to capture these fleeting moments – and that’s apparently what the Japanese philosophy called ‘Ichigo Ichie’ is all about. Who knew?

ADHD Was Sabotaging my Photography

Including this one for purely selfish reasons – I have autism/ADHD and was diagnosed very late in life (at age 53). Cards on the table – very, very few of these ADHD hacks work for me, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have value and won’t work for you. Also just some generally sound life advice in here. Knowledge is power.

From Print to Product // Matting & Prepping Fine Art Prints For Sale

Rather than cutting matt-boards out by hand, Brian walks through the process of matting with those shop-bought multipacks that come in specific sizes. Nicely explained, well paced and very useful if you fancy trying this yourself.

Hyper Localism

Nicely thought out argument for pursuing the stuff that’s on your doorstep instead of the ‘honeypot’ locations that grace everyone’s social media feeds. This is basically the way I’ve worked for the last decade.

I Replaced Doomscrolling With Something Way Better

Lovely thoughtful video this one and I have to say I think Andre’s got the kind of voice that could sell a lot of products if wanted a career in voiceovers! I totally agree with him regarding the addiction to doomscrolling, I actively fight against it and applaud anyone that decides to be present in the moment rather than automaticallly reaching for their smartphone.

You’re Using the Wrong Lens for Wildlife Photography

So many ‘pro’ photographers offering absolute bollocks advice on YouTube, but it’s evident that Matt actually knows what he’s talking about and offers some top-notch advice here for successfully capturing wildlife and getting as much as possible of it in the frame and in focus.

Camera Shutters are Extremely Fast

One of the original YouTube channels, still going strong – the Slow Mo Guys trained their incredible cameras on the shutter mechanism in a couple of test cameras. Quite amazing to watch this technology we completely take for granted.

The Truth About Camera Reviews

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7DnASDKPNo

As you probably know, I have a 100% no-sponsor and no-affiliate policy everywhere I publish stuff and the reasoning behind that policy is very well illustrated by this video on the Camera Life podcast.

I don’t have the subscriber counts of the big photography channels and I’m definitely more of a software than a hardware guy, but I get approached about ad-reads, sponsored videos, sponsored reviews and affiliate deals every. single. day. Today alone I have five emails from companies asking me what my rates are. But I also agree with David that I understand how tempting it is, when you’re trying to earn a living as a content-creator, to have a free $13k camera offered to you, if you simply cover the suggested bullet-points in your review.

I also think that channel-adjacent sponsor deals (i.e. a camera channel getting sponsored by a camera manufacturer to do a review of their camera) just makes you look like a soul-less shilling fuckwit. If the product is not channel-adjacent (i.e. a camera channel reviewing an e-bike) then I still think you look like a wanker, but it also doesn’t seem like you’re trying to pull the wool over anyone’s eyes – it’s just not very classy.

Anyway, it’s nice to know that some other people hit the spam flag on sponsor offer emails.

Update: looks like they took the video down. Perhaps there was a bit of blow-back from the content creators that felt they might have been criticised in the video? The whole podcast that the video clip came from is still online though and if you’d like to hear it, you can find it here – the bit in question starts at 02:21:21 (and yes, that is a bloody long podcast).

You’ve Been Thinking About Photography All Wrong

Just a nice thoughtful meditative essay on photography and its benefits for mental health.

If you struggle with Woodland Photography

Second video from Chris Harvey in this edition, because he’s got some solid tips here in here for ordering the chaos. Must admit I’m jealous of his access to such lovely woodland.

The Art of Authentic Photography

Having that tag ‘National Geographic Photographer’ still carries a lot of weight, doesn’t it! Some hard-won advice here from the professionals.

5 Days on the ultimate wildlife photography road trip around the Isle of Mull

Yes, it’s a promotional video paid for by Sony – but Libby is great value and the scenery and wildlife in this one are top-notch.

That’s your lot for this go-around – bit of interesting content hopefully- more again soon. If you enjoyed this email then consider subscribing to my Substack.